Michigan man describes wife's death and dismemberment

Published 6:30 am, Monday, March 5, 2007

Police tape blocks off the home Stephen Grant shared with his wife, Tara. Grant is a suspect in her death and dismemberment.

Police tape blocks off the home Stephen Grant shared with his wife, Tara. Grant is a suspect in her death and dismemberment.

Photo: KATHLEEN GALLIGAN, DETROIT FREE PRESS

Michigan man describes wife's death and dismemberment

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PETOSKEY, Mich. — A man captured after a night on the run in the snowy wilderness confessed to killing his wife in the couple's home while their children were there and later dismembering her, authorities said Monday.

Stephen Grant, 37, was arrested over the weekend and treated for hypothermia after he spent 10 hours hiding in a park at the tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. He was discharged from a hospital Monday and brought back to Macomb County outside Detroit, where he was being held in jail.

Sheriff Mark Hackel said Grant "gave a very lengthy confession, laying out exactly what took place" in the slaying of his wife, Tara.

Prosecutor Eric Smith said investigators do not believe that the couple's two children — a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy — witnessed the slaying. He said, "There's been no evidence about anything they were doing other than sleeping."

Autopsy results suggested Tara Grant was strangled on Feb. 9, said Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz. That was the date she was last seen alive after returning from a business trip to Puerto Rico. Police have said the couple had recently argued over her frequent trips.

Grant waited five days before reporting his wife missing. Investigators found her torso Friday in the garage of the couple's home in suburban Detroit. Other body parts turned up in a nearby park.

The remains showed signs of a struggle, including neck bruises, according to Spitz. It was unclear when the body was dismembered.

Spitz said he was confident all the remains were from the same body but DNA testing was being conducted at a state police laboratory.

Smith said Grant was "a willing participant" in the confession and that investigators intend to use "every statement he has made against him, including statements made to the media."

Grant is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of murder and dismemberment of a body, Smith said.

As he was discharged from the hospital on Monday, Grant rode in a wheelchair and wore protective footwear because of frostbite. He ignored reporters' questions before stepping into a vehicle from the sheriff's department.

Grant said during his confession he initially put the torso in the park but retrieved it before police searched there Feb. 24, according to Hackel. He was "nervous" after learning of the impending search, the sheriff said.

Smith said a neighbor found a plastic bag containing latex gloves, metal shavings and human blood in woods near the Grants' house. The discovery enabled police to obtain a warrant to search the home and a tool-and-die shop where Grant worked. Smith said the body was dismembered at the shop.